Diablo 2 Resurrected: Beginners’ Guide

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As I was browsing Diablo 2 Resurrected forums these days, I noticed that plenty of new players are asking some repeating questions about the game. I’ve decided to create a starting guide that’ll introduce you to the essentials of Diablo 2 Resurrected.

The game is quite big as there are seven different classes you can play. I will touch only upon some of the essential parts of the game. You can go much deeper down the Diablo 2 rabbit hole, as the game genuinely has a lot to offer. 

What is the Endgame in Diablo 2 Resurrected?

I’ll start with the question that the new players most often ask. There are multiple things you can do once you’ve got your character to a high enough level. (88-92)

Honestly speaking, these following three elements create a very balanced endgame, that is, a healthy economy where everyone is benefiting. They are as follows:

Player versus Monster

PvM is the essence of Diablo 2 Resurrected for many players. People enjoy grinding for items, also known as MFing (magic finding), in the community.

It’s such an interesting endgame as there’s an enormous marketplace of players who need good items all the time. Additionally, itemization in Diablo 2 is designed not to be pay-to-win. When you find an item, some of its stats roll.

However, you can find a bad roll or a perfect variation of it, but either way, a skilled player will know how to make the best use of them almost equally. That applies to both PvP and PvM.

The exciting part’s that collectors are ready to pay significantly more for perfect items. So you can quickly become rich with a single drop from a random monster and equip five characters. That gamble element made this game extremely addicting (at least for me).

Aside from having the chance of finding a fantastic item, there’s more to the PvM side of the game. There’s a ladder where people race to level 99. Getting there takes a lot of consistency, time, and dedication. In my teenage years, it took me six months to get to level 99. (version 1.10)

The issue is that as you level up, the monsters give you less and less experience. It gets so bad that getting from 1 to 98 is the same as going from 98-99. 

That privilege is reserved only for those who make leveling their primary goal, as it takes a lot of Chaos and Baal runs, as the final two bosses are the only ones who give you any experience.

Dying on Hell difficulty punished player by taking away is experience, so a single death can reset days of leveling when you’re level 98. Although, that’s nothing in comparison to Hardcore mode, where death is permanent. You have to reroll a character if it happens.

Player versus Player

PvP is the endgame for many other Diablo 2 players, and it’s very entertaining. It plays a crucial role for the whole economy, as PvP guys are the ones who want to get the best items in the game, and they buy them from those who enjoy grinding and the PvM aspect of it.

Without PvP, there’s no demand for all those insane items that thousands of players find. In my opinion, that’s one of the reasons why Diablo 3 failed. It completely excluded the PvP aspect. It could only crumble without that part of the economy as the marketplace became flooded with items with no demand. But that’s an entirely different story for a separate blog post.

Trade

Now, this is where things get interesting. There are Diablo 2 players who strictly play the game for trading purposes. It’s another aspect of Diablo that makes the game very fun to play. 

When I was not grinding for items, I spent hours and hours waiting for the perfect trade to happen.

Many people become collectors through trading, and it’s a very entertaining part of the game.

Furthermore, traders can obtain unique items through crafting. Some invest in crafting materials and spend hours crafting amulets, rings, gloves, and boots. Much like with grinding, crafting an insane amulet can equip tens of characters.

If you’re wondering what’s the currency, there are a couple of answers for you.

The item worth is defined in several ways:

  • Runes – You can sell your items for HRs (high runes) if you want to stay within the in-game economy. They hold a lot of value because they’re used for making powerful Runewords.
  • Forum gold – You can head over to d2jsp, a Diablo 2 trading forum with its currency. You can sell your items for forum gold and use it to buy other Diablo 2 items or even items in other games. 

Forum gold has one big benefit. It’s a stable currency. As items start flooding the market, their prices become lower over time, allowing you to equip characters with more equipment for the same amount of forum gold.

For example, finding a Shako on the second day of the ladder will get you 1000 forum gold (imaginary amount, the price varies depending on the market state). Only a couple of weeks later, you can use that same forum gold to buy 100 Shakos.

  • Real money – You can sell items for real money, but that’s against Blizzard’s Terms of Service. I would never advise it to anyone, as there’s always a risk of getting your Diablo 2 account banned.

What Should Be Your First Diablo 2 Resurrected Character?

When picking the first character, every seasoned Diablo 2 player will tell you to go with a cold sorceress. It’s the best character that you can use to farm items on Hell difficulty quickly. The teleport skill makes her favorable, as she can quickly move and kill monsters.

Some of the best bosses and areas you can clear with a blizzard sorceress are:

  • Act 1 – Andariel
  • Act 2 – Ancient Tunnels in Lost City
  • Act 3 – Mephisto
  • Act 4 – River of Flame and Chaos Sanctuary (once you have a mercenary who can deal a lot of damage)
  • Act 5 – Pindleskin (The boss you’ll find when you take the red portal next to Anya)

That’s a great start as you can practically find any good item by running these areas.

The goal is to find as many good items as possible, sell them off while also equipping your sorceress.

Then there are two options: Once you have the Infinity polearm runeword and place it on your mercenary, you can reset the stats and skills of your sorceress and reroll it to a lightning sorceress can clear all areas in Diablo 2 world, making it more effective magic find character.

Otherwise, you can equip another character that you want to use for PvM or PvP. 

It’s a personal preference, but anyone would give you the recommendation to make a Hammerdin, a paladin that uses a skill called Blessed Hammer. It’s the most overpowered character in Diablo 2 that can clear all zones with ease.

What are The Most Valuable Items in Diablo 2 Resurrected?

When it comes to items, a wide range of them are tradeable and have decent worth, especially at the beginning of a ladder climb. (A ladder climb is a race to level 99 that currently lasts six months. After it’s done, the ladder is reset, and people start racing again.)

I will list the essential item types:

White Items 

White items with sockets can be expensive as there’s a high demand for them. People use them to make runewords. They need to be superior, with 15 enhanced defenses or damage, depending on whether it’s an armor or a weapon, respectively. 

Three socket armors such as Magic Plate or Dusk shroud with 15 enhanced defense or a five socket weapon with 15 enhanced damage are great bases for runewords.

Blue Items (Magic items)

There are magic items that have a high price. These include: 

  • Jewelers Monarch of Deflecting, 
  • Jewelers Dusk Shroud of the Whale
  • Lancer’s Javelin of Quickness.

Yellow Items (Rare items)

There’s a wide range of yellow items that can be very expensive. Pay attention to rings with stats such as strength, dexterity, life, and resistances, especially if they have the faster cast rate attribute. The same applies to amulets with +2 Skills, faster cast rate, strength, dexterity, life, etc.

Brown Items (Unique items) 

Some unique items make the essence of many characters, and a couple of honorable mentions to consider are: 

  • Stone of Jordan, 
  • Harlequin Crest, 
  • Skin of Vipermagi, 
  • Crown of Ages, 
  • Griffon’s Eye, 
  • Bul-Kathos’ Wedding Band, 
  • Death’s Fathom, 
  • The Oculus, 
  • War Traveler, 
  • Arachnid Mesh, 
  • Mara’s Kaleidoscope,
  • Raven Frost, 
  • Highlord Wrath, 
  • Waterwalk, 
  • Sandstorm Trek and many other unique items. 

Head over to the Arreat Summit. It’s Blizzard’s official guide for all the things in the game.

Runewords

These are the most powerful items with unique abilities. One of the most popular runewords is Engima. The armor gives a character teleport ability, making it the essence for countless Diablo 2 character builds. 

Other popular runewords are:

  • Heart of the Oak
  • Call to Arms
  • Grief
  • Breath of the Dying
  • Chains of Honor
  • Infinity
  • Insight

There are many more, which you’ll also find on the Arreat Summit website.

Charms

Charms are items that add stats to your characters as long as you keep them in your inventory. There are three unique charms in Diablo 2. Those are:

  • Gheed’s Fortune
  • Hellfire Torch
  • Annihilus 

You can find Gheeds Fortune anywhere, but getting to Hellfire Torch and acquiring Annihilus is different. The first will require you to kill uber bosses, while the latter is only possible by killing the Diablo clone.

However, finding charms with + to skills and up to 45 life sell very high. Additionally, small charms with life and resists, or with maximum damage, attack rating, and life, are also expensive.

Crafted Items

Diablo 2 lets players craft items. You use a special artifact that’s you find in one of the quests called the Horadric Cube. You place a magic amulet, a rune, a jewel, and a gem to roll an item. The result is in the majority of cases a bad item, however, there’s always a chance of hitting the lottery.

Some of the best items in the game can only be crafted. They are usually, incredible amulets, rings, gloves, belts, and boots.

Is There PvP in Diablo 2 Resurrected?

Yes, people hold organized tournaments from 1 versus 1, up to 4 versus 4. There are rules to follow as to which items are allowed and which aren’t. 

Since Blizzard never made any dedicated PvP arena, players always duel in Act 1 Hell difficulty just outside the town.

Concluding Thoughts

I hope this post helps you better understand the basics of Diablo 2. Feel free to write any questions you might have below. I’ll give my best to answer them and write more guides for you.

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